COLLEGE STATION — Magnolia kicked off the Class 5A playoffs with a 25-22, 25-17, 21-25, 25-20 bi-district victory over Cedar Creek at A&M Consolidated High School on Tuesday evening.

The No. 23 state-ranked Lady Bulldogs (26-11) started strong with two straight wins before dropping the third set. Magnolia rebounded nicely in Game 4, however, and finished off the match to advance to the area round.

"That was a tough first (match)," Magnolia coach Leslie Madison said. "It was good to get a win. I thought (Cedar Creek was) a good team, and they had two really good outside hitters. And then that server (Avery Tuggle) — we haven't really faced anyone with that kind of serve. It was good for us to go against that moving forward."

Magnolia will now face off against Bryan-Rudder in the area round later this week. The Lady Rangers defeated Corsicana in four sets on Tuesday to advance.

Against Cedar Creek (29-15), the Lady Bulldogs were led by Alex Glover and Ally Myers, who each finished with a team-high 12 kills. Emily Hubble recorded a double-double with 36 assists and 18 digs, and Myers also finished in double digits with 13 digs.

Magnolia held the lead for most of the first set and stayed the course late for the 1-0 lead. It was much of the same in the second game as the Lady Bulldogs were able to find some separation early on and keep Cedar Creek at arm's length on their way to the victory.

But trouble found Magnolia in the third set as the Lady Eagles rallied from a late deficit and stole the win, thanks in large part to a flurry of tough serves from Tuggle. Cedar Creek scored eight of the final 10 points to stay alive.

"I felt like her serve won Game 3, honestly," Madison said. "She had the majority of the points on her serve, and we got aced quite a bit. I think that was the difference, but we did a much better job in Game 4."

The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the final set and never let Cedar Creek get within three points the rest of the way as they closed out the match.

"You've got to play every game like it's Game 5," Madison said. "I think we relax a little bit sometimes, we've got to kind of change our attitude toward (having the lead). … I think we did a good job, and there's some things that we can do better, but it was very nice to get the win and move on."